Chimpomatic

Elvis Perkins

Elvis Perkins In Dearland

XL

Mr Perkins opened his first long player - Ash Wednesday - with the immense and emotional ‘While You Were Sleeping’. It’s so good that on listening back it dwarfs the rest of the songs. Second time round and the overall quality and craftsmanship have been taken up a notch or two and the collection feels more rounded, more varied, more interesting to the ear.

This seems to be down to Elvis being joined by, or, as the title of the album suggests, himself becoming a member of his live backing band – Dearland. Whereas last time round it was more about one man and his guitar, the lads from Dearland have brought as many instruments as they have ideas to the party. From the off you can feel that its much more than just one persons work. A broader range of styles, sounds and influences are drawn upon.

“On this new record we wanted to capture the spirit of our performances,” drummer Nick Kinsey said. And that they seem to do. The vim, vigor and energy that weren’t always present on Ash Wednesday, but appeared from nowhere on stage are present throughout the whole album. Even on the darker, introspective numbers the collective creativity has brought more punch and power to the poetic and prophetic verse penned by Perkins.

While on the opening song Elvis sings “black is the colour of a squashed rainbow” (which called to mind the manically depressed painter from The Fast Show) - it sounds like having the company has cheered Elvis up a bit. In the excellent ‘Doomsday’ - a title which hints he might be at his gloomiest - he triumphantly shouts: “I won’t plan to die. Nor should you!”

To paraphrase The Dude, it seems like he’s not really into the whole brevity thing - as some songs seem to linger longer than perhaps they need to. Though, that could just be me. I’ve been listening to the Minutemen a lot of late.

Putting that aside, this album is certainly a step forward rather than simply more of the same. It’s good and I like it. So there.

Three Songs to Spotify:
I Heard Your Voice in Dresden
Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville
Doomsday

Links

Elvis Perkins

Tags

#Locochimpo
#Music

10th Mar 2009 - Tweet - Tumblr

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